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Birmingham buses

Phil

I think you have cracked it, that certainly looks like the spot to me and it also ties into the route of that time. Thanks a lot.
 
This bus was on the 65 route in 1966 when it overturned. Reading the number plate looks like MOF 148 or 149. I would think local newspapers would have reported about the accident and if anyone has access to Birmingham Mail archives we might be able to find out how and why it happened.

MOF148or9.jpg
 
Maybe this from November 1966?

View attachment 129207
Presumably the bus, as it was a SPECIAL taking the children to the baths at Nechells Green, was moving at a reasonable speed as it was not picking up or setting down passengers. Fifteen hurt out of thirty three is a large number but fortunately there were no fatalities. It could be down to the strength of the older style of well built BCT bus.
It would be of interest if we knew what caused this accident - car or bus - and how the well the car driver recovered from his injuries.
 
The first one alongside the now demolished 'Duke of York' Top of the High St on the Outer Circle
2 nd definitely 'The Baldwin.'
Someone may have already said that the picture of VWK223 in WM livery is at the junction of Vicarage Road and Alcester Road South in Kings Heath. This was the early days WMPTE when the remaining rear entrance buses were drafted onto the Outer Circle as the OMO equipment couldn't cope with so many stages.
 
In post 1355, particularly looking at 247 DOC negotiating the small turning circle I noticed the compulsory bus stop. This was sited on the opposite side if the small island to the terminus outside the Baldwin car park. It was to stop a bus before it pulled out into other road vehicles which did not use the small island. It was sited, as seen in the photograph, for rear loading buses. I wonder if it was re-sited when so many buses became front loaders? Or did the route changes of the WMPTE eliminate the need for the stop when the route was extended to Solihull. It was an unusual arrangement but I guess there were others on the BCT system. Another that comes to mind was the compulsory stop by Sarehole Mill on Wake Green Road on the 29A route. This was due to the very narrow road which had a curve at the time. I never saw anyone alight or board there. Sarehole Mill had not been renovated and opened to the public, as far as I recall, at that time.
 
There was another compulsory stop at the top of Snow Hill only yards after the terminus in Colmore Row outside the front of Snow Hill station. This was left over from tram days to make sure that the tram was brought to a stop before the down slope of Snow Hill where a tram could run away if going to fast. There was also a compulsory stop for the same reason at the top of Bredon Hill on the Pershore Road
 
I recall that top of Snow Hill one, it seemed off that buses starting off from outside Greys and Snow Hill station had to stop again. I thought it might also have been an a way of saving people having to cross a very busy junction. I am sure there was another on the Inner Circle 8 route as the bus travelled down a long hill after crossing from Highgate Road towards Bristol Road.
 
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I always thought that the Compulsory stops meant a Stage point on the route because the fare was so many pence per stage.
 
In BCT days red/white circular bus stop plates read BUSES STOP HERE. In addition to the safety measures mentioned they were also to be seen at terminii. The blue/white versions read BUSES STOP BY REQUEST. A stage was a small metal plate, poitioned on top of the sign and shaped to follow the sign contour, which simply read STAGE, They could be found on either stop plates. They are to be seen in this thread.
Midland Red had similar circular shaped stop plates, red on white with the Midland Red tyre and bar logo which I guess differentiated them from the city ones. The original BCT sings were predominantly blue or red but later ones had a more white background. Tram stops were similar in colouring but were rectangular. Trolleybus stops were hexagonal.
I did see one or two yellow plates, just after WW2, but I don't know what they meant. Maybe they were old styles which had not yet been replaced.
 
The Midland Red circular plates were only for use within the city boundary. Unless there was a special reason to separate the Midland Red stops, the Midland Red observed the BCT stops. Outside the city boundary the Midland Red used their own rectangular stop signs usually on concrete posts rather than the metal posts used in Birmingham.

West Bromwich bus stops had a hanging plate suspended from a bracket arm on the post. I think there was a colour difference between compulsory and request stops.
 
The Midland Red circular plates were only for use within the city boundary. Unless there was a special reason to separate the Midland Red stops, the Midland Red observed the BCT stops. Outside the city boundary the Midland Red used their own rectangular stop signs usually on concrete posts rather than the metal posts used in Birmingham.

West Bromwich bus stops had a hanging plate suspended from a bracket arm on the post. I think there was a colour difference between compulsory and request stops.

Midland Red used circular plates in Birmingham, as the erection of bus stop poles was the council's responsibility and they used BCT ones. The Midland Red's stops WERE separate from the BCT ones as the distance between stops was greater for MR than BCT, although some shared the same location. West Bromwich and Wolverhampton Corporations used identical (bought in) plates, green for request stops and red for compulsory ones.

West Bromwich or Wolverhampton plates.jpg
 
I always thought that the Compulsory stops meant a Stage point on the route because the fare was so many pence per stage.

Compulsory stops were often timing points, or where safety required the bus to stop before proceeding, say at the top of a hill.
 
Lloyd has more knowledge of this subject than I do so I thank him for his comments. I was also interested in his picture of the West Brom bus stops as I did not remember the colours.

My recollection, especially on the Hagley Road, is that Midland Red had their own dedicated stops outbound but used BCT stops in bound.
 
Always thought compulsory stops were called limited stops.

Limited stops were those services which certain buses skipped. For example on the Hagley Road from Quinton to Five Ways the X8 amd the X10 buses do not stop at all stops whereas the 9 running on the same route will stop at all the stops.
 
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